Running head: Community Problems CommunityProblems: Minimizing Poverty CharnessaL. CurbCommunityDevelopment Dr.C. Ren Poverty isconsidered the lack of access resources need to survive on a daily basis.Considerable resources needed to survive are considered as food, clothing, andshelter. Others would also see poverty as lack of education, health care, andpositive relationships. People who live in poverty are marginalized: they aresometimes excluded from society and treated as less important.
According toMarianne Hill, Ph. D. (2008), poverty is a major problem to confront,especially in the South, where about 1 out of every 5 persons lives in poverty,which the numbers are continuously growing. A lot of elementsplay a vital role in poverty.
Some of these elements are associated withindividuals or families being irresponsibility with money, limited access toeducation or jobs. Other elements saw poverty as not only an individual problembut a social problem that needs politically and structurally attention. Although poverty is one of society’s majorissues, many would suggest that this sort of element is needed in society.Sociologist have suggested, like Emile Durkheim, that it is through issues likepoverty that it helps to create more jobs and to allow the minimum work thatneeds to be done to be completed by individuals within the socio-economicstatus.
Emile Durkheim further explains this within the functionalist theory.Durkheim saw everything within society withhold a purpose. Functionalist theoryexplains that society’s beliefs, behaviors, social structures, etc., arefunctions that work together to ensure social stability. Through the functionalist theory, we learnthe importance of working hard and having the ability to enjoy life or beingapart of the “American Dream.” Reducing poverty in society is going to takethe work of the government and community.
The combination of support,accessible resources, and policies to help all families and individuals in needwould be a great step to minimizing such a major global issue.Although povertyhas a continuous impact on society, there are various ways that we couldminimize the poverty rate in America. Improving community-based organizations ,welfare and social policies would be a great start to decreasing poverty.
Technical assistance (TA) approaches provides more than a set ofskills. It provides a framework upon which community development organizationscan analyze their needs, assesses their strengths and weaknesses, plans, and togrow and help their communities to prosper (Lyon & Driskell, 2012).Technical assistance can be helpful in minimizing poverty within various towns similarto the Mississippi Delta. Technical assistance is likely to be effective if itutilize the eight key principles: it must be shaped by community developmentofficials agenda’s; everything must start with a plan; technical assistance relationshipis a partnership amongst equals; it should deal with real issues rather thantopics; it must help develop the ability to anticipate; all key players must beinvolve; building capacity takes time; it should promote networking; and startwith questions (Lyon & Driskell, 2012).
The MississippiDelta has implemented community-based organizations like the Community ActionAgency, Inc. which is a private, for the purpose of providing education andwork assistance to the low-income of the Mississippi Delta in Bolivar County.The Agency’s principal activities consist of carrying out Community ActionPrograms through grants received from governmental and private fundingagencies. As a leading program in the State of Mississippi, the CommunityAction Agency provides a variety of services ranging from preschool child-careto a senior companion program; a transitional and homeless shelter toa Homeless Prevention Rapid Re-housing Program; an adolescentopportunity program to a general education diploma program; utility/rentalassistance to education assistance. The agency’s mission is to enhance thewell-being, economic independence, and growth of low-income individuals andfamilies to become self-sufficient and foster community empowerment anddevelopment.
Along with providingassistance to the community, the Community Action Agency also providesself-help programs to help individuals to become less dependent on assistantprograms. Other programs consist of neighborhood watch programs, which help thecommunity to better protect themselves from home invasions and other criminalactivities. A community-based organization, like the Community Action Agencyand government assistance programs, could be utilized to help decrease povertyin Mississippi, but many programs that are similar are either underfunded orhave limited resources to cater to the needs of multiple individuals orfamilies in need. Tobetter community-based organizations and government assistance programs, theseprograms should not solely focus on the individuals.
Most programs andorganization make it hard for families to receive assistance because theysometimes use punishment and the threat of punishment in order to changebehavior and get people off public assistance (see O’Connor, 2001,Quigley,2003). A positive approach is to limitthe number of years recipient can be on family assistance and requireparticipants to work after two years onwelfare (see Levitan et al 2003: 59-72). There are numerousapproaches public official, community leaders, churches, community-basedorganizations, and families can take to resolve poverty. The best pathway outof poverty is creating more job opportunities. To get back to pre recessionemployment levels, we must create new jobs from private to public sectors. Tokick-start job growth in rural areas within the Mississippi Delta, the federalgovernment should invest in job-creation strategies such as rebuilding ourinfrastructure; developing renewable energy sources; renovating abandonedhousing; and making other common-sense investments that create jobs, revitalizeneighborhoods, and boost our national economy.
We should also build on proven modelsof subsidized employment to help the long-term unemployed and otherdisadvantaged workers re-enter the labor force. Raising the minimum wage isanother way of decreasing poverty. Raising minimum wage and indexing to theinflation would lift more Americans out of poverty. Recent action taken bycities and states such as Seattle, Washington; California; Connecticut; and NewJersey, shows that boosting the minimum wage reduces poverty and increaseswages.Low-wage andhourly jobs increasingly come with unpredictable and constantly shifting workschedules, which means workers struggle even more to balance erratic work hourswith caring for their families. Ever-changing work schedules make accessingchild care even more difficult than it already is and leave workers uncertainabout their monthly income. By implementing the Schedules That Work Act wouldrequire a two weeks’ advance notice of worker schedules, which would allowemployees to request needed schedule changes.
Boosting investments in HeadStart and the Child Care and Development Block Grant, as well as passing theStrong Start for America’s Children Act; which would invest in preschool,high-quality child care for infants and toddlers, and home-visiting servicesfor pregnant women and mothers with an infant. It will also help morestruggling families obtain the child care they need in order to work andimprove the future economic mobility of America’s children.Implementingpublic transportation is another way to minimize poverty. Public transportation could assist workerswithout vehicle transportation to and from, as well as to local healthcarefacilities. If the problem of poverty is in the system rather than in the poorthemselves, a community development response must be to change the system.
ConclusionIt is possible to minimize povertyin America, also in rural areas like the Mississippi Delta. Between 1959 and 1973, a strong economy, investmentsin family economic security, and new civil rights protections helped cut theU.S. poverty rate in half.
Efforts to successfully reduce poverty and advancingdevelopment are certainly possible for the state of Mississippi. Rural citieswithin the Mississippi Delta, like many other cities across this nation, hasgreat potential to getting more people off the streets and into stable jobs andhomes. Minimizing poverty has to start with communities bonding together toremove division from the communities based on cultural and racial differences,to tackle the issue of poverty. The collaboration of leaders from theeducation, business and government sectors, and the active involvement ofleaders from families, churches and other organizations in the setting ofpriorities and directions, can ensure success. ReferenceDriskell, Robynand Lyon, Larry. (2012).
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